Smooth Bent Disc (Gold) Tobacco Pipe

Sometimes a pipe carver will look to nature for inspiration. There are also times that an artist will look to the existing work of other pipe makers that he admires, and see what elements would flow easily with his present shaping model. Then, sometimes, a man will reach back through more than two millennium for guidance.

This composition has such a palpable presence, I am not sure that any pipe collector could walk past this Gold grade Peter Heding disc and not pull up short (I can almost hear the screech of leather soles on hardwood floors). The shape of the bowl is ancient, compelling, and pretty much unique to Peter. A generously thick, compositionally perfect shank prows under the bowl, evoking images of a highly stylized, oil wick lamp held by a sconce. Peter is a very tough grader of his own work and this handsome briar earned a Gold Dot by presenting a straight grain or delightful birdseye on all exterior surfaces. A Peter Heding aficionado will have a very hard time taking a "pass" on this one.

--Bear Graves